Tentherism’s threats, hints of secession and even armed insurrection – “Second Amendment remedies” as they are euphemistically called (now broadened to include OWS) – are nothing new, sad to say. Just the other day Rand Paul endorsed an ad that not only lied about an imaginary “million rifle ban” but portrayed
one of those rifles pointed at President Obama’s head. But the outright
call for “armed revolution” in the event of an Obama victory in
November from the Greene County, Virginia Republican Committee is more the stuff of a crazed right-wing militia than a major political party – or so you would think.

In the committee’s newsletter, “The Constitutional Conservatives”
editor Ponch McPhee wrote the following in the “White House Watchdog”:

We have before us a challenge to remove an ideologue unlike anything world history has ever witnessed or recognized.

An individual who has come to power within a Nation which yields it’s strength over the entire world.

An elected leader who shuns biblical praise, handicaps economic ability, disrespects the honor of earned military might.

In the coming days and weeks ~ we the people must come to grasp as a
common force, our very soul’s, that our future as a sovereign nation is
indeed at risk.

If every single individual that you know, would contact 25 other
individuals ~ we can make a difference that will be heard across the
Commonwealth and in Washington.

The ultimate task for the people is to remain vigilant and aware ~
that the government, their government is out of control, and this
moment, this opportunity, must not be forsaken, must not escape us, for
we shall not have any coarse but armed revolution should we fail with
the power of the vote in November ~ This Republic cannot survive for 4
more years underneath this political socialist ideologue.

Some
of us understand that there is a very real danger of armed insurrection
(you can’t actually call it a revolution when its purpose is to
reassert the conservative status quo – it’s more of a counter-revolution
if the word is to be used at all) in the event of an Obama victory in
2012. The Homeland Security warning so unwisely rescinded was accurate.
These people are well-armed and none too sane, as their behavior
demonstrates.

Sadly, the spirit that fired on Fort Sumter in 1861 and the arrogance
of Pierre G.T. Beauregard, who put the match to powder, is alive and
well in the South. Most of us – Republican president Abraham Lincoln in
particular, probably did not foresee the bloody Civil War as a temporary fix,
but that is what it is shaping up to be. The battle lines have been
clearly drawn for some time now, and just as Christianity was used to
justify slavery (and still is), it is now being used to justify the
subjugation of women and gays and lesbians, along with atheists, Pagans
and other “undesirables” not worthy of the term “real” Americans.

It is not only religion-based bigotry but racism that drives the
modern conservative movement in America, a reaction to loss of privilege
both of conservative white males and conservative Christians.

The Greene County GOP apparently realizes that McPhee and
the newsletter are a potential liability, judging by the disclaimer on
the back page claiming that views expressed are individual only. But
that’s a cop-out. They should either stand behind McPhee’s insane views
about armed insurrection or find an editor who represents their real
views.

The Greene County GOP has apparently taken his advice…sort of. After
the media heard about it, McPhee used the usual tactics of those caught
in the act, playing the victim of the media, saying he was speaking metaphorically:

“all this rip roar Media hype….. is all about…..being
armed with the voices of We the people…..you must arm yourself with a
spoken word to be heard ~ just as the founding fathers spoke out during
the revolution……So, Yes, arm yourself with many voices for the people
and by the people….as your constitution allows….should the vote fail
….this November or at anytime……”

McPhee’s insurrectionist post was removed (along with the link) and
then McPhee himself. In a “To Whom it May Concern” Gary E. Lowe, the new
chairman of the committee wrote:

The referenced comment is included in an Editorial
comment made by the former Newsletter Editor. It was written in March
before a change in the Greene County Republican Coimmittee (GCRC)
leadership, and clearly illustrates the needed change for leadership via
recent elections. The newsletter also includes the following
disclaimer - “Note: Content of the newsletter does not reflect the
opinion of the Republican Party whole or in part, all contents offered
are individual. GCRC is not addressing anyone living or dead in regards
to this content.”

The Greene County Republican Committee denounces such language and
does not subscribe to that thinking. The membership of the GCRC is
composed of hard working, law abiding Americans who raise families, pay
taxes, generously serve their community and respect the Presidency of
the United States. As a editorial comment, it is the musing of one
person, not the party.

Of course, Mr. Lowe goes on to say, in words which detract from the strength of his disavowal,

Perhaps the author was borrowing from Thomas Jefferson who wrote, “The
strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear
arms, is as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in
government.” He also wrote, “And what country can
preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time,
that this people preserve the right of resistance? Let them take arms. The
remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them.
What signify a few lives lost over a century or two? The tree of
liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots
and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

While we believe this election is critical to the direction of the
future of this great nation, we do not believe that if the results end
up with the re-election of Barack Obama, that will necessitate what the
author suggests.

“That will necessitate…” So all’s good as long as Obama loses,
leaving open the necessity of an armed insurrection if he wins.
Apparently saying you’re going to kill a bunch of people is okay if you
say the likelihood of it being necessary is remote. More disturbingly
and completely invaliding his previous words, since he smugly insists a
call to armed insurrection is protected by the First Amendment, he is
saying the editor can threaten all he wants. How “law-abiding” co-exists
with a willingness to engage in an armed insurrection against a
lawfully constituted government is anyone’s guess.

Not that any of this is surprising from a group that pretends Thomas
Paine and Thomas Jefferson were conservatives, when in fact they were
radical liberals. And no sort of bizarre rationalizing should surprise
us at this point. But threats of armed insurrection are not merely
harmless ranting, and Americans must think about the possible
consequences of an Obama victory beyond the triumph of Enlightenment
values and the fulfillment of the Constitution for all Americans.

It is all too clear that they want a fight. It is equally clear that
we must be ready to give them one. If we do not draw a line in the sand,
if we are not willing to fight today, there will be no tomorrow. We
cannot submit, we cannot abandon the Constitution for which so many
Americans have shed their blood and given their lives. Our attitude mus
be, can only be: “bring it on.” So if we must fight, let us fight now.

20 Responses to If We Must Fight, Let it Be Now

You know, I’m a gun guy, but I can’t stand “gun culture”…these guys
have been bleating on and on about revolution and armed insurrection for
a looooong time, but my feeling is as long as the TV’s on and there’s
burgers a-cooking, they aren’t going to do shit.

these people do not seem to understand who they belong to.
What these armed insurrectionists do not realize they are saying, is
that they are standing up for the wealthy running this country. They
can run away from that and say it’s all about states rights and all of
that garbage, but it’s really about them standing up for the Ryan plan
to get rid of children and seniors and to drag this country back into
the 1500s including the very people calling for the armed insurrection.

I haven’t seen anything that Obama has done that is radical yet. But
I’ve seen what the GOP is doing and I would sure like to know why these
gun not with tiny dicks are not complaining about what is happening in
the House of Representatives of this country

Amen to that! I’ve been watching c-span for well over a year
and I agree 100%. They are up to no good in that chamber and it needs
to be exposed. Watch c-span and you know the war on women waged by
republicans is the truth.

I agree with Paul. I grew up with guns and was taken to a pentecostal church as a boy.

But these guys are the ones we would see in the woods with holsters,
six-shooters ( even though hunting with handguns was illegal) and cases
of beer or whiskey, western (cowboy) hats and big wheeled trucks.

Ignorant obnoxious and dangerous. But only to themselves and those close to them.

Ever notice in the documentaries how sickly the skinheads look?

Very shallow end of the gene pool.

But,,when they make public threats,,arrest them send them to a prison where the population is predominantly non-white.

Now that their little patriotic spiel has been exposed, they’re
not so “brave and bold” as to bring it on, so it seems. Paul has it
right; as long as there is bread and circus 24-7 they’re not going to do
much of anything but grumble and take their frustrations out on their
family/BF’s.

…of course, they will play in their back yards with guns and tell
each other whoppers until their drunk on the perfect revenge fantasy’s

…but then again, they are social re-treads.

(I didn’t want to get grief for the correct term)

People who live in heavily laden nostalgic past, on the fringe of
sanity never really gain traction on an organized level; if these
“patriots” join the Klan, then they have more of a chance to rob a bank
or kill people…but then, they’d have to their lily-white “skin” in the
game. It take a much bigger commitment to risk winding up in jail cell
or dead for being a race-trader by the hand of their own kind.

I do believe they are dangerous and armed, but, I also believe, as
long as Obama is in office (AND he gets rid of Jan Napalitano) we’ll see
a much a future according to the constitution.

(don’t get me started on how much of a political hack and f*ck-up herself is on issues like the one in this article)

When Napalitano was AG, there were several cases of child abuse/underage
marriage/prostitution rings up on the north border–you guessed it;
Warren Jeffs and his polygamist buddies. She KNEW these cases were real,
but “ignored” prosecution. She knew Jeffs and his klan were “bleeding
the beast” (as in removing their children from public schools so the
schools wouldn’t get funding as they ramped-up the klans food stamp
applications) and more (see article:

I say bring em on. If these crackpots want a fight then so be
it. Any idiot that would use this kind of inflammatory rhetoric deserves
what they get. It’s one thing to encourage your people to get out the
vote. It’s another to suggest an outright rebellion if they don’t get
their way. I look out my window, and I see a pretty nice country. We
have some problems, and we need to get alot of our people back to work,
but I don’t see the place falling down around our ears! The most
destructive force at work right now is this idea that compromise shows
weakness. It is this compromise that allows us to move forward. Don’t
they realize this? If we continue to dig in our heels on every single
ticky tack thing, we’re going to stagnate. I took an oath when I joined
the military to defend the Constitution of the United States against ALL
enemies, foreign AND domestic. I think when these jokers crawl out of
their holes, they are going to find that they are in a very small and
crushed minority. Americans don’t respond very well to the threats of
thugs.

I grew up with firearms as well. I understand that owning
firearms is a valid right of the people, but I have seen many people
like this who take it too far. My father often follows the rantings of
the NRA currently claiming if Obama is reelected he will disarm us the
day after the election. I have also heard similar talk from religious
right groups who claim his second term will usher in complete
eradication of Christianity in this country.

They are all trying to spread a culture of fear that the government
is out to get them. While I am not completely happy with Obama or his
predecessor I am not so deluded as to think that either of them were out
to destroy our country.

This has, in fact, crossed the legal demarcation into sedition.
Yet men (and some women) like this are expendable. They are the
stochastic particles in the constant bombardment of just-this-side of
legal hate speech and defamation being rained down on the public by the
Limbaughs and Becks and Palins and Hannitys and (above all) Murdochs and
Aileses out there. A big counterrevolution need not happen, only a
constant parade of terrifying domestic incidents: assassinations
attempted and completed, “private” violence against “unamerican”
neighbors; shootouts with authorities, bombings, riots, vigilante
killings, local brushfire uprisings, and the verdict, it is hoped, will
be: “This (black, Democratic) President can’t keep order”, or if indeed
he does keep order, then it’s, “See, he’s coming for y’all ril (white)
uhMericuhns’s gun’s. Can’t trust no n*** or eevil libruls!”

We may indeed need to be ready for it, but the first thing to do is
expose it: here, and then with pressure on the media, our
representaives, the authorities. If it comes down, one day, to where we
must defend ourselves with armed violence, even the marksmen among us
will be at a disadvantage, simply because we do not think like
murderers. Our best weapons, while they are still able to fire, are
reason, decency, and eloquence, and we must be willing to use them now.
As Winston Churchill said:

Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win
without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure
and not too costly; you may come to a moment when you will have to fight
with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival.
There may be even a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no
hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

do what J. Edgar did… send someone to their rallies… take their
license plate numbers… get their names… put them on a list… If they had
done that Timothy mcVeigh may have been caught before he blew up the
building in Oklahoma…

The choice IS clear. Either you are pro-equality (and hopefully
not egalitarian about it, but just believe we should treat all people
with the same respect with which we would like to be treated) or not.

If you are pro-equality, you CANNOT be pro-GOP, which is clearly and
unashamedly anti-women’s rights, anti equal pay, equal opportunity and
equal education for the less-than-wealthy.

If you believe in the Horatio Alger fairytale of the ’20s that “any
young man (not woman, notice) can pull himself up by his bootstraps and
‘make something of himself’ by hard work and honest effort” – well, you
haven’t tried it in today’s corporate-controlled, big chain world.
Virtually every field of self-employ – service industries, home carpet
cleaning, pet services, house cleaning, retail of just about ANYTHING –
it’s all covered by national chains and franchises. If you DO succeed
for a while, the franchise will either try to buy you out or drive you
out by lowering prices – they can absorb the loss, you can’t. WalMart
has destroyed many local economies with their predatory practices, which
so many people dismiss as “business as usual.” It’s not, it’s WAR, ,
it’s war on YOU, your FAMILY and your LIFESTYLE – and you just won’t get
it.

“Oh, honey, I don’t want a gun in the house. They’re too dangerous.”
And looters aren’t? Thieves welcome at your place? When there is no
work, even a good man will turn to crime to get what he needs, and a
criminal will be much bolder, neither has anything to lose.

This IS the vision the GOP has for the US – if they lose the
election, they will “allow” Fox News to “encourage” their viewers to
“take back” the country by armed insurrection – they are already calling
for it openly in several states.

Don’t bring a kitchen knife to a gunfight. The GOP had a defense
strategy called MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction.” They continued to
add enough nukes to destroy the entire planet many times over, just to
be sure the Soviet Union would not launch a preemptive sneak attack.
These are the sociopaths that have morphed into the Religious Right.
Same mindset, only now they blame Jesus(TM)

Expect something similar in November. It will NOT happen if we are
all prepared. But if we are NOT prepared with a sufficient armed
citizenry, they WILL have no hesitation about giving it a shot.
Literally…

This is what happens when you are using what you are trying to
deal. The last gasps of a dwindling few who see that the world is no
longer one that they can control or subjugate. Obama Derangement
Syndrome is clouding the judgement of these few and such have given them
a foolhardiness that most sane folk would not. Their circle jerk
revenge fantasies frothing from the ‘net serves nothing more that show
that their days are numbered.

The Progressive age is upon us, and slowly and with patience we
will repair what was torn asunder and rebuild what was torn down.

People are entitled to their opinions, as long as they remain so. For
when they become actions, they become THREATS and will be treated as
such.

These twits ought to take a look at how the last attempt at an
insurrection — much bigger and better-organized than anything they’d
remotely be able to muster — ended in 1861-1865. McPhee’s crimes
against the English language alone would justify another Sherman’s
March.

A WELCOME CHANGE(KIRKUS REVIEWS)RALPH SHAMAS PRACTICED LAW FOR 32 YEARS. HE RECEIVED THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE PEER RATING AND WAS INCLUDED IN THE BEST LAWYERS INAMERICA.
HIS NOVEL, THE HOMICIDE CHRONICLE, FICTIONALIZES A HORRIFYING MURDER
CASE HE HANDLED DECADES AGO. THE BOOK HAS BEEN PRAISED BY BOOK REVIEWERS
AND BY PRACTICING LAWYERS ALIKE.